A Lonely Town
by Lazey
Summary: My take on life in Storybrooke before Emma came to town. Starts about a month before the pilot. "... But in Storybrooke no one wondered about anything. Life was just accepted as it was."


**Don't worry, I'm still working on my Red in Black fanfic and am about halfway through the next chapter. Just got hit with an idea and started writing and came up with the following. Not sure where I am going with it yet but it was fun to write. My take on what it was like living in Storybrooke before Emma came to town. **

* * *

"C'mon Mary Margaret. Last weekend before you have to go back to school. Live it up! Awooo!" Ruby's howl echoed through the bar, even though the Rabbit Hole was crowded as usual.

Mary Margaret shyly looked into her half-empty glass. "But I'm volunteering at the Hospital tomorrow. I don't have to be up too early but I can't be hungover tomorrow either."

"At least have some more fun." Ruby looked at a couple young men at the bar with a predatory eye. "If you're too scared to go over there I can pick a few cute ones out of the herd and bring them over here."

Mary Margaret blushed. Anyone outside of Storybrooke might wonder why the timid schoolteacher was friends with the rather wild and promiscuous waitress, but in Storybrooke no one wondered about anything. Life was just accepted as it was. "No, you don't have to do that."

"At least you're showing some color now." Ruby grinned toothily. "You didn't even get a tan this summer. What happened to going to the beach?"

"I've been too busy with helping out at the hospital and other volunteer work." Mary Margaret said. "Next summer I'll go."

"Didn't you say that last summer?" Ruby asked.

"No, I went last summer... Or maybe I didn't." Last summer was hazy to Mary Margaret, she could not remember if she even left town last year. It was not important if she did or not. Mary Margaret shrugged.

"Oh look who just walked in!" Ruby nearly got on the table in her excitement.

Mary Margaret turned to the door. Sheriff Graham walked from the door to the bar.

Ruby took a compact out of her little red purse, checked her face and reapplied some crimson lipstick. "Let's see if I can get another feather in my cap tonight." Ruby snapped her purse closed and strutted to the bar. Nearly every man's head in the Rabbit Hole turned to watch her.

Mary Margaret shook her head. Sometimes she envied Ruby's boldness when it came to men. Whenever Ruby saw a guy she wanted she might not get him but she always tried to. Ruby was never alone for long. Of course Mary Margaret did not want Ruby's reputation, she knew how people talked about her behind her back.

Mary Margaret nursed her drink and watched Ruby flirt shamelessly with several guys at the bar, but could see she was mostly focused on Graham. Graham was not flirting back but Mary Margaret could see that some of the other men were hitting right back on Ruby. Mary Margaret recognized some of them, one of them was Dr Whale. Mary Margaret thought that it must be nice to have so many men interested that Ruby could take her pick. After an hour of being flirted at by Ruby who all but threw herself at Graham's head, Graham left, alone. Ruby returned to Mary Margaret's table.

"Ah, defeated again." Ruby sighed, but she was still looking bright and lively as she slipped back into her seat. Ruby lowered her voice. "Regina's got her claws in him."

Mary Margaret did not know why, but the mayor terrified her. She looked around to make sure that no one was listening in on Ruby gossiping about Regina. "You've seen them together?"

"No... But I just have this feeling that he's with her. Like I can smell her on him." Ruby shrugged. "Sixth sense, comes from hunting men so much. Can tell the different levels of availability."

"If he's with her then you should probably stay away from him." Mary Margaret said.

"I had to try. I like Graham. He's cute and a lone wolf like me. Maybe next time." Ruby said, eying the men at the bar. Dr Whale was leering back at her. "Guess I'll have to settle for someone else... Ugh, not Dr Whale." Ruby went on to explain her rejection of Dr Whale, "He's such a lech and him being a doctor makes it seem creepier somehow. And I think he drugged me one time too."

_"What?" _Mary Margaret squinted across the table. Ruby sounded so casual about it she did not know if she was serious or not.

"I don't know if it was him, there were a lot of guys at that party. Oh don't worry, nothing happened. I went home with Granny that night." Ruby shook off Mary Margaret's concern, her red-streaked hair bouncing from side-to-side. "Left my drink unattended while I danced and stupidly drank it when I got back to it. It hit me like a truck and I knew I was getting drunker faster than I should be on only my second drink. So I locked myself in the bathroom and called Granny to pick me up. Worst hangover ever, you can imagine the lecture I got the next morning." Ruby rolled her eyes. "I should have gone to Boston."

"Something bad could have happened to you!" Mary Margaret was alarmed by Ruby's close call. If Ruby had not realized she was being drugged, if Granny had not come to get her...

"Nothing did." Ruby said. "One thing I'm good with is guys. They're not taking advantage of me."

No, Mary Margaret did not want to be Ruby. The men in her life might not be taking advantage of her but Mary Margaret could tell that few respected her. None of them loved Ruby either. Mary Margaret wanted more than flings with random men. She wanted to find True Love. She wanted to be happy. Mary Margaret knew her expectations were too high. She would be a lonely schoolteacher forever this way.

"Still sure you don't want me to set you up with one of those guys?" Ruby offered. "You can take first pick."

"No thank you, Ruby." Mary Margaret shook her head. "I think I'm just going to go home. I'm tired."

"Your loss. Good night." Ruby said and strode back to the guys at the bar.

* * *

When Mary Margaret got home she did not go to bed right away. She took a shower first and had a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon as she went through her files. She was getting a new student Monday, Henry Mills. Mary Margaret frowned and wondered why she thought of him as a new student. It was a new school year, all her students were new to her. Was it because Henry was adopted? No, surely she had taught other students who had been adopted. Maybe she thought of Henry as new because he was the Mayor's son, and Mayor Mills was protective of the boy so Mary Margaret did not see him very often. Mary Margaret read Henry's file. He was a very smart boy, got good grades but was shy and did not participate in his past classes. Mary Margaret believed she could get Henry to come out of his shell. She was good with children and hoped to have some of her own someday.

Of course having children would require finding the right guy first. She could have children with the wrong guy, but then she would wind up like poor Ashley Boyd and Mary Margaret did not want that. It did not seem right for a child to have to grow up without its father either.

Mary put the files away and went to her book shelf to pick out a few storybooks to read to her class. One book seemed to stand out to her and she pulled it off the shelf. It was large, leather bound and titled Once Upon a Time. Mary Margaret flipped through it, the book contained all the old, classic fairy tales everyone knows; _Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White_ and others stories like them. Because Mary Margaret already knew all these stories she did not bother reading them, just set the book aside to start a pile of storybooks to bring to the school Monday.

Then Mary Margaret brushed her teeth and went to bed.

* * *

Mary Margaret made her rounds at the Hospital. She had very little medical knowledge, but what most of the patients in the Intensive Care Unit needed was companionship, someone to talk to. Being alone most of the time Mary Margaret could relate to their loneliness.

But there was one patient in the hospital that was lonelier than even Mary Margaret. He had been in a coma since before Mary Margaret had begun volunteering. But what was saddest about the coma patient was that not one person ever came forward to say they knew him, no loved ones, no family, he had no one. Because no one even knew his name they could not even begin to search for his family.

So John Doe lay asleep as if he were dead.

It probably made no difference but Mary Margaret brought John Doe flowers like she did for all the other patients. She thought that maybe he could smell the flowers and it would bring him some comfort in his lonely existence.

Mary Margaret set the flowers in a vase on the table next to John Doe's bed and took a moment to look at him. He was a handsome man. He had a scar on his chin that Mary Margaret fancied he had gotten in the accident that put him in his coma. Mary Margaret noticed that John Doe had remained unchanged in all the years she had volunteered at the hospital. He looked healthy enough to get up out of bed on his own.

But of course he would not. He had been in a coma for so long it was likely he would never wake from it. Nothing changed, nothing ever got better.

Mary Margaret left to see to the other patients.

* * *

"I was going to hold on to this for your birthday." Regina said as Henry stared at the large, wrapped box on the table. "But you have been so down about school I decided to let you have one of your presents early."

Henry tore open the paper. "Whoa!" It was a computer. Henry had been wanting his own computer for a while.

"I hope you like it." Regina smiled.

"I will." Henry wanted to open the box and start setting up the computer right now. But instead he politely thanked Regina. "Thanks, Mom."

Regina hugged him, then started gathering up the torn wrapping paper. "I thought it would help you with school... Though I am sure you can find some games to play with it."

Henry smiled, but at the same time he was not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow. Every year he had a new class, a new teacher... and new classmates.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

"None of my friends will be in my class, will they?" Henry asked. "They always stay back while I go ahead."

"You're moving up to another grade because you're smart, Henry. You're special."

Henry sighed. His Mom did not get it. No one got it. Even his psychiatrist did not get it.

"Come on." Regina said, picking up the computer's box. "Let's get this set up in your room."


End file.
